Welcome to Fab after Fifty

At Fab after Fifty we are passionate about women over fifty making the best of their lives. There has never been a better time to be 50!
We'd love you to join in the conversation. Be Seen. Be Heard. Don’t be invisible. Be Fab after Fifty!

Career

Article by Ceri Wheeldon
I came across Karen Arthur on twitter, and always looked forward to her pictures of her latest creations. So I asked her to share her story Fabafterfifty readers.
Karen has always enjoyed sewing – and has always liked to look at the fabric in her clothes and thought about how they can be used for something else. But how did she start making handbags as a business?
“ A friend found a gorgeous suede jacket in the back of her late mother’s wardrobe – she asked me if I would be able to make a bag from the it, as she wanted to send it to her sister as a keepsake. It was a challenge for me as I had never...

Interview by Ceri Wheeldon
Shirlie Kemp talks to Fabafterfifty about her life and reinvention in her 50s.
I fell in love with Shirlie’s artwork and asked so asked her to share with Fabafterfifty how her new career came about!
Shirlie is no stranger to reinvention having had to change career track very early on. Known as being part of pop duo Pepsi and Shirlie, and Wham! surprisingly Shirlie didn’t set out to have a musical career – in fact Shirlie had wanted to work with horses and was training to be a riding instructor when at the age of 17 she developed terrible hayfever- putting an end to her equestrian dreams. But as one door closed another opened…as Shirlie explains:
A change of career direction
“ Just as was having to rethink what...

Article by Gillian Mawson
Gillian talks about her new venture- and the difficult decisions behind it.
Tell us about your current project….
In early 2008 I was researching the Manchester Blitz of December 1940, when I discovered a June 1940 newspaper which described the arrival of over 17,000 Guernsey evacuees in England. This included 5,000 school children who had left with their teachers, leaving their parents behind. The evacuees had to remain in England for 5 years because the Nazis occupied their island. I knew nothing at all about these evacuees, and tried to find out more but could discover very little. I realised that this was an untold story of the Second World War which, because of the advanced age of the evacuees, needed to be captured. I began to...

Article by Eileen Sutherland
We all cope with bereavement and grief in different ways- Eileen shares her journey following the death of her son.
In July 2006 when I was 54 my husband and I cycled from Britain to Bulgaria. I was unfit, overweight and had a dodgy knee. He was fit, an experienced cyclist and very strong. So naturally when it came to allocating panniers, tents, bike boxes and thermarests I voted that he carry them. He (Allan) manfully took the brunt of the weight but due to lack of space I did have to carry some stuff. As a result there was a lot of shouting and crying from me as we cycled across Holland and Germany. But by the time we reached Austria I was taking things...

Article by Diane Priestley
Diane Priestley is an Australian journalist now living in London who travelled to Ghana in Africa with Madventurer as a volunteer. Here she writes about her experiences at an impoverished beach village that desperately needs outside support to break free from the poverty trap and improve the future for hundreds of isolated, deprived children.
Maranatha is an isolated, impoverished community on a windswept strip of beach between the open ocean and the Volta River on the south-eastern coast of Ghana.
The fishing community of around 700 people (with more than half the population children) live in huts made of palm trees and the children attend barren classes in dilapidated bamboo shelters with broken concrete floors.
The beach village is one of the poorest corners of...

Article by Linda Bulmer
“First you don’t and then you can’t”. I was not the person to say these wise words but I am blessed to know their source as well as be ready to hear them. So where did those words take me? What do I mention first? The summit of Kala Patthar looking down over Everest Base Camp, Nepal, or perhaps Alaska, climbing the “Golden Staircase” into the Yukon of Canada. Just sayin…these words helped catapult me into a very adventuresome decade.
Being physically active with 3 children over the last 27 years has been a given. We have always made it a priority to be an outdoorsy family enjoying camping, snowboarding, bird watching and mountain biking on both...

Article by Christyne.
The last you heard from me was earlier in the year when I was featured and pictured in a 2 page spread for the quarterly magazine Life and Living, not front page this time Twiggy had that slot. I did enjoy doing another professional shoot in London
Shortly after I auditioned and got a small speaking role in a film university students were making as a mysterious shop keeper, it was great fun and done in a very professional way and a great experience.
After that in April I entered a model search competition held at a local shopping centre over 260 men and women turned up to be photographed this was whittled down eventually to the final 19 who were then...

Article by Ceri Wheeldon
Since setting up Fabaferfifty I have had the privilege of meeting and talking to so many inspirational women. Many are nominated as ‘Fabwomen’ by friends and family.I don’t think I have been touched by anyone’s story as much as the one I am about to share with you.
I was recently approached by someone who wanted to nominate their friend, Julie Rogers, who had just published a book called ‘Don’t Cancel My Newspapers Yet’. They believed that Julie epitomised what being Fab after 50 was all about.
Julie has being diagnosed as having terminal cancer.
In 2009 Julie was diagnosed as having breast cancer. With treatment she thought she had beaten it, but a year later it came back- spreading to her lungs. On Christmas Eve 2010...

Article by Ceri Wheeldon
When Marina Florance became an empty nester, she decided to follow her dream and her passion for music. Four years later at the age of 53, she is a finalist in the OldieComposers competition, and has had one of her compositions recorded by Anthony Head , which was performed live on ITV This Morning.
Marina has always written songs and enjoyed singing, performing only for friends and family over the years. But in 2007 she decided, with the support of her husband, to broaden her musical horizons and start performing for the public in small venues. Initially daunting, Marina joined the Norfolk Folk Club where she met with...

Interview with Hellen Bach
Hellen launched a competition for mature songwriters, with some celebrity support the winning songs are now available to purchase , and the funds raised are in aid of Barnado’s.
How did Oldie Composers come about?
It was my idea on the back of a young songwriting competition we started a few years ago. We decided that there were a lot of talented people “out there” and just because they are “older”, had more or less given up. We felt that perhaps if we could find a way to rekindle their interest or give them something to work towards it would not only help them but hopefully help disadvantaged children through Barnardo’s. I have always liked the idea of the older generation helping the young.
How easy...